Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) introduced the “American Traveler Dignity Act” on November 17 to rein in the intrusive and invasive airport searches by the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

The principle behind the legislation is simple: If an individual can be arrested for groping another individual, why shouldn't a TSA agent also be subject to arrest when he does exactly the same thing?

Ron Paul’s legislation would establish that the security screeners who grope travelers and gawk at their nude pictures be subject to the same laws as anyone else. “My legislation is simple,” Paul said in a statement available at his website. “It establishes that airport security screeners are not immune from any US law regarding physical contact with another person, making images of another person, or causing physical harm through the use of radiation-emitting machinery on another person. It means they are subject to the same laws as the rest of us.”

The Congressman had another thought:

“Imagine if the political elites in our country were forced to endure the same conditions at the airport as business travelers, families, senior citizens, and the rest of us. Perhaps this problem could be quickly resolved if every cabinet secretary, every member of Congress, and every department head in the Obama administration were forced to submit to the same degrading screening process as the people who pay their salaries.”

Perhaps the political elites would re-evaluate their position on the peeping and probing Toms at the TSA; perhaps they would be willing to support the Congressman’s legislation.

"Something has to be done,” Congressman Paul implored in a speech he gave on the House floor ln support of his bill. “Everybody’s fed up. The people are fed up. The pilots are fed up. I’m fed up.” He added: “What we’re doing and what we’re accepting and putting up with … is so symbolic of us just not standing up and saying, ‘Enough is enough.' "